The Laurel Community Center Games Club has sessions every Thursday starting at 6 PM, lasting until 9 PM. The Community Center is located at 7901 Cypress Street, Laurel MD 20707. Phone: (301)-497-0300. The Laurel Community Center Games Club is affiliated with the Games Club of Maryland ("GCOM"), which has over 30 locations in Maryland and the surrounding states and the District of Columbia.

Contributors

Monday, February 23, 2015

Winter weather struck this week, keeping attendance down compared to prior weeks. We had a total of seven (Patrick, Mike, Tim, Lina, Laura, Rembert and myself), and we split into two groups and got in a total of just two games that each lasted the entire session: Brew Crafters and Concordia, played with one of the expansion boards (UK).

Brew Crafters was a three-player, consisting of Laura, Tim and myself. We played with the Interns optional space that was used quite frequently by both Laura and Tim and, quite effectively I thought, by Laura. I drew first player and took the Barley Grower skilled worker and went with a first-turn Farm strategy. Laure and Tim each took a local partnership and, with the two of them grabbing Interns right and left, I didn't get any but was the first to add a second brewery shift early in the second year. That, plus the Brewpub and the Brewpub Manager, enabled me to forge a fairly comfortable win in a relatively high-scoring game: 95 to 83 for Laura with Tim, at 55, trailing. OOPS, just re-checked the scoresheet and I made a math boo-boo. I only had 85 to 83 for Laura, a very close game, that could have gone the other way had someone beat me to one of the three gold label rewards.

Concordia, as mentioned before, was played with one of the new maps, for Britain or the UK, and it produced a fairly competitive game. Mike won with 97 to 90 for Lina, the difference being the 7-point bonus Mike got for triggering the game-end. Rembert (79) and Patrick (75) were not that far behind.

Next week will be PrezCon in Charlottesville, so I will not be at the club, so Mike will be in charge. Hoping for better weather and more people in the coming weeks, obviously. Don't forget about Maryland Game Days, which is coming up in about two weeks, March 12-15, and the Doubletree in Pikesville (a new time and new location for the event).

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Despite some cold weather, we still had a decent attendance as 10 hardy souls descended on the Community Center for an evening of gaming. One first-time attendee, Zak, joined Mike, Patrick, Greg, Ben, Alec, Will, Eugene, Neville and myself, and a total of three games were played: Sheriff of Nottingham, Concordia and Istanbul.

Sheriff of Nottingham was an interesting game where players take turns as the Sheriff, who can accept deals or decide to inspect any and all packages for contraband. Money changes hands during the game, and bonus points (money) are awarded for collecting specific goods and for having the largest sets at the end. Neville came away the winner. Scores: Neville 154, Greg 145, John 139, Patrick 138, Zak 122. The other group of five played Concordia. No details, just the results: 1. Mike 105 2. Ben 105 3. Eugene 103 4. Will 101 5. Alec 69 Finally, one more game, which was Istanbul, won by Patrick. Patrick was first with 5 gems, Zak and I had 4, Greg and Neville 3 at game-end.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Group of 12 for this past week's session. In attendance were John W, Mike, Doug, Ben, Patrick, Greg, Neville, Will, Eric, Eugene, Tim and myself. Games played: Splendor (twice), Robinson Crusoe, Augustus, Roll for the Galaxy, Power Grid Deluxe: North America, Fidelitas and Yardmaster.

Some details on the games (scores when available): Started out with Splendor, a solid win for Mike. Scores were Mike 15, Doug 11, me 9, John W 7. We then broke into separate groups. One group (consisting of Greg, Patrick, Will and John W) played Robinson Crusoe. It's a cooperative game, and I didn't get a result. It lasted pretty much the rest of the session, and it either didn't make it to the finish or the players failed to fulfill the victory conditions. Afterward, I heard alot of "we should have done this or that," so I assume it did not go all that well for the players versus the game system. A five-player games of Augustus broke out. It resulted in a win for Eric. Scores were Eric 66, Eugene 37, Neville 30, Ben 13, Tim 11.

Doug, Neville and I played Roll for the Galaxy, the dice game sequel to Race for the Galaxy (one of the co-designers, Wei-Hua, is a former GCOM host). I managed to win with 33, ahead of Neville (28) with Doug (22) in last despite triggering game-end with most buildings but no shipping. Ben won a five-player Power Grid-Deluxe game using the North America map but it was an incredibly close battle for second among the other players. Ben had 17 powered cities, and everyone else was at 15. In order of money, it was Eugene second (14), Eric third (11), Mike fourth (10) and Tim (6). Four of this group played a second game of Splendor. Eric won with 18, ahead of Mike (11), Tim (7) and Eugene (6). Doug, Neville and I got in a couple of more games before time was up. One game, Fidelitas, was won by Doug (8) over Neville (7). I was far behind with 3, barely getting on the board in the last turn. We then turned to Yardmaster, and Neville proved to be the Yardmeister with a winning score of 20. I was second at 13, Doug trailing at 9.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Despite some iffy weather during the day, we still had a good turnout of 11 for this week's session, with Mike, Kay (whom we haven't seen for awhile), Greg, Tim, Will, Ben, David, Lina, Eugene and one newcomer (Tom) and myself in attendance. Games played: Brew Crafters (first time with the finished product at the club), Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Splendor (twice) and Sushi Go (twice).

Brew Crafters was a four-player with three who were new to the game and myself. I managed to come home first with a score of 56, while Ben (best of the new players), perhaps aided by his past experience with playing Agricola, second at 50, followed by Lina (42) and David (32). Including time for teaching, this game took most of the evening. Another game featured was Castles of Mad King Ludwig, another four-player, scores were Greg (101), Mike (99), Will (95), Tim (83). Kay (who had some schedule issues and couldn't stay for the entire session), got into a couple of games of Splendor. First one, a two-player, was won by Eugene (15) with Kay second (12). By the time they had finished, Tom arrived, and so they played a three-player, won by Tom (15) to 9 for Eugene and 1 for Kay. The group playing Mad King Ludwig had time left for a couple of games of Sushi Go. Both came down to the final scoring with the player with the most pudding (a tiebreaker I am very familiar with) coming from behind to win. Game 1; Greg 37 Tim 35 Mike 32 Will 26 Game 2: Will 41 Mike 39 Tim 32 Greg 30